Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz Jr. was left to lament a misfiring engine, which led to his eventual retirement at the Austrian Grand Prix.
Sainz Jr. held a top 10 place during the early laps but ultimately plummeted down the order amid a loss of pace, though he and Toro Rosso attempted to rectify the issues.
Sainz Jr.’s trials proved fruitless and the squad eventually retired the car from the race.
“We had an issue with the engine from the moment the race started – I felt it misfiring during the whole of the first 10 laps, which meant I dropped from ninth to 16th,” he said.
“We tried everything in order to get it working and for 15 laps I was playing with the switches trying to make the car work.
“In the end this unfortunately didn’t happen, even though we managed to recover a bit of pace, and as the issues persisted in the end we had to retire the car.
“It’s disappointing and certainly not what we needed, especially because points looked possible today.
“All in all, a difficult end to what I’d describe as a good weekend – qualifying yesterday was good and I was running in the points before the problem started, so there are some positives to take.”
Team-mate Daniil Kvyat finished as the final classified runner in a thrice-lapped 16th, having been deemed responsible for causing a collision on the opening lap.
Kvyat locked both front tyres and hit Fernando Alonso, whose spinning McLaren collected the Red Bull of Max Verstappen.
Toro Rosso continues to hold sixth in the Constructors' championship, albeit with its lead over Haas cut to four points.
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